Speculations that Nigeria’s ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been hit by fresh crises after its recent election defeat, were confirmed Saturday with the party leadership openly accusing presidential aides for President Goodluck Jonathan’s defeat at the polls.
The party issued a “strong warning” to the president’s associates and aides, asking them to steer clear of the party, and not use their closeness to Mr. Jonathan to cause crisis in the party.
“The National Working Committee, NWC, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has issued a very strong warning to some ambitious aides and associates of President Goodluck Jonathan trying to use their closeness to him to cause crisis in the party and pave way for more defection to other parties,” the party said in an unusually strongly-worded statement.
The PDP said it would expose such individuals and make them face the full weight of the party disciplinary measures if they fail to immediately retrace their steps.
The NWC in a statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh, said it is “aware of the clandestine activities of such aides and associates of the President including their unholy alliance with some elements in other parties to undermine and weaken the PDP by attacking its leadership.
“The NWC is aware that these same individuals who mismanaged the presidential campaigns are now desperately seeking to cause crisis in the PDP with a view not only to divert attention from their misdeeds but also to ensure that they remained politically relevant by hijacking the party structure for their selfish purposes.”
Mr. Jonathan lost the March 28 presidential election to his main challenger, Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Despite the president’s concession of defeat, some of his party leaders have for weeks subtly blamed each other for the loss.
Last week, a former political aide to the president, Ahmed Gulak, called on the chairman of the PDP, Adamu Mu’azu, to take responsibility for the defeat and resign.
“If the belief of the majority of the members of the PDP is anything to go by, you could say that the party chairman was the number one culprit for the dismal outing of the PDP,” Mr. Gulak told Punch newspaper.
“There is no party chairman of the PDP since 1998 that has led the party to such a disastrous outing. As a result, the national chairman should consider himself one of those that have to give way for the new party to come up. In fact, he doesn’t need to be told to turn in his resignation,” he said.
Ahead of the elections, Mr. Mu’azu faced stringent criticisms for his contribution to the campaign efforts of Mr. Jonathan. Many party members accused him of refusing to campaign for the president openly, especially in the northern states.
On Thursday, the PDP denied reports that the party chairman was ejected from a meeting of PDP governors.
Read the party’s full statement:
The National Working Committee, NWC, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has issued a very strong warning to some ambitious aides and associates of President Goodluck Jonathan trying to use their closeness to him to cause crisis in the party and pave way for more defection to other parties.
The PDP said it would expose such individuals and make them face the full weight of the party disciplinary measures if they fail to immediately retrace their steps.
The NWC in a statement signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Olisa Metuh on Saturday said it is “aware of the clandestine activities of such aides and associates of the President including their unholy alliance with some elements in other parties to undermine and weaken the PDP by attacking its leadership.
“The NWC is aware that these same individuals who mismanaged the presidential campaigns are now desperately seeking to cause crisis in the PDP with a view not only to divert attention from their misdeeds but also to ensure that they remained politically relevant by hijacking the party structure for their selfish purposes.
“We are aware that these individuals have been trying to arm-twist the President to summon a meeting of party leaders at the Presidential Villa in the coming days where the NWC members would be put under pressure to resign thereby triggering a crisis in the leadership at the national level.
“The party is aware that the same group has been sponsoring series of amorphous bodies and negative publications in a section of the media to peddle false allegations against the NWC to back their heinous and unconstitutional demands that the President should sack the NWC before the handover date of May 29, 2015.
“However, for the purposes of clarity, especially for those making uninformed demands on the President, the PDP National Working Committee is duly elected and its tenure ends in March 2016 in line with the provisions of the party’s constitution. The PDP is a party built on the rule of law and democratic ethos. Its NWC is elected and not appointed and as such cannot be sacked at will or by an executive fiat. Besides, no section of the party constitution prescribes that the NWC should quit if the party loses in a general election.
“Furthermore, the PDP constitution is clear on the process of summoning a meeting of party leaders and the role of the NWC in that regard is well-defined. Anything outside the laid down rules and the provisions of the constitution in this respect is completely of no effect.
“Moreover, President Goodluck Jonathan has amply demonstrated his strict adherence to the rule of law and the tenets of democracy even on issues of party administration and should not in anyway be hassled by these selfish and greedy elements to destroy his legacies.
“Consequently, the leadership of the PDP by this statement makes it very clear and in an unambiguous terms too that it will no longer condone such divisive actions by the same unscrupulous individuals who in their selfishness ruined the fortunes of our great party in the general elections.
“The NWC will no longer tolerate actions that tend to undermine discipline and the supremacy of the party and its constitution, as it will henceforth not hesitate to apply full disciplinary measures for infractions
“Our advice to these ambitious aides and associates of the President is to leave party matters and concentrate on the Presidential transition and smooth handover of power to the incoming administration as well as preparing for post-handover issues that might arise regarding the administration in which they served”, the party stated.
On the issue of the performance of the party in the general elections and allegations of mismanagement of Presidential campaign funds, the NWC said it has no case to answer, as Nigerians already know the truth regarding those who managed the campaigns including the funds.
“Nigerians are not at loss as to the fact that the PDP NWC did not manage the campaign and its fund. Those who managed the campaigns have already submitted their reports to the President who in his wisdom gave them the mandate and they have been applauded for a job well done at that level”, the statement said.
The NWC said it appreciates the support and backing of key stakeholders especially the PDP Governors’ Forum, the body of national vice chairmen and state chairmen as well as governors, legislators-elect and all well-meaning members in the all-important effort to rebuild the party and reposition it to regain power in 2019